A trial began Tuesday for a Will County Board member whom a special prosecutor accused of unlawfully accessing the emails of a political rival and forwarding them to the county executive.

Jackie Traynere waived her right to a jury trial and Will County Judge Derek Ewanic will decide whether she’s guilty of the misdemeanor charge of computer tampering.

Traynere, a Democrat, is accused of the March 6, 2024 unlawful access of emails from Will County Board member Judy Ogalla, a Republican. Traynere is further accused of forwarding Ogalla’s emails to herself and others.

Four witnesses were called on Tuesday. Those witnesses included Ogalla and Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, the latter of whom endorsed Traynere in the March 17 Democratic primary for the Will County Board District 11 race.

Traynere’s case is expected to continue on Thursday morning.

The trial was tense with Special Prosecutor Bill Elward and Traynere’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, quarreling over what questions witnesses should answer and what evidence Ewanic should consider.

At one point, Tomczak slapped his notepad on the podium in frustration after repeated objections from Elward. At another point, Elward sarcastically asked for “getting animal control” into the courtroom in response to Tomczak’s comments.

Ewanic told the attorneys to “keep it civil.”

During opening statements, Elward said his evidence would show Traynere accessed the county email account of Ogalla, who is her political opponent.

Elward said Traynere forwarded emails to herself and to Bertino-Tarrant. One email forwarded to Bertino-Tarrant was a message from Steve Balich, a Republican on the county board, according to Elward.

Elward said Traynere knew she had a “political advantage” in sending information to Bertino-Tarrant.

Another of Traynere’s attorneys, Colin “CJ” Haney, said Traynere was not criminal but someone who “sounded the alarm” about a “glaring” security flaw in the county board’s email system.

That flaw was every county board member using the same password for their account, according to trial testimony.

Haney said when Traynere realized she could access Ogalla’s account, she immediately contacted the county’s information technology department. The emails accessed by Traynere were also not “politically sensitive,” he said.

Traynere’s actions were not of computer tampering but an “act of vigilance,” Haney said.

Ogalla testified she was surprised in 2024 when she saw Bertino-Tarrant reply with a “thank you” to an email that was purportedly sent from her account.

Ogalla said she spoke on the phone with Traynere, who told her she “randomly” went into her email. But Ogalla said she did not think it was random. She said she would not have shared with Bertino-Tarrant an email that was sent by Balich.

Ogalla said she did not see the email sent from her account to Bertino-Tarrant in the “sent” folder of her account. Elward has contended Traynere deleted the email.

Ogalla said she did not give Traynere permission to access her email account.

“I was upset,” Ogalla said.

Ogalla acknowledged under cross examination that she knew prior to the 2024 incident that county board members had the same password for their email accounts. She said she raised the issue in the past with the county’s IT department but the county board has no control over that department.

Jason Donisch, the county’s IT director, also acknowledged on the witness stand that county board members were using the same password for their accounts since at least 2012.

Donisch said he did “sound the alarm” about the issue to a county official. He said there was a county office that was “very specific” on not giving up that practice.

Bertino-Tarrant testified she received a call from Traynere on March 6, 2024 about needing to contact the IT department because she discovered the password issue with county board email system.

Bertino-Tarrant was asked by Tomczak whether she felt Traynere was “sounding the alarm” about a security issue during the call.

“Yes,” Bertino-Tarrant said.